It was a pretty good week for fans outside of cricket’s so-called Big Three. In Dubai, West Indies sent England tumbling out of the Women’s T20 World Cup, then South Africa produced a remarkable demolition job on Australia and now meet New Zealand in Sunday’s final. In Bangalore, New Zealand’s men rolled India for a marmalade-dropping 46 all out, their lowest total in a home Test.
And in Multan, on a pitch refurbished in between Tests with the use of giant fans at either end, Pakistan secured a restorative victory over England - their first in 12 matches at home to set up a tantalising series decider in Rawalpindi next week.
All it took was dropping three poster boys, recalling two wily old spinners in Noman Ali and Sajid Khan, and Shan Masood winning the toss on this surface of diminishing returns. It was a gamble, no question, but still required a telling performance thereafter; the kind that offered the latest reminder of Pakistan’s ability to lurch from maelstrom to magnificent in the blink of an eye.
